Hilton Anatole Dallas

Last week I stayed in Dallas at the Hilton Anatole. What a beautiful hotel with absolutely magnificent facilities. The accommodation I was given was a King Corner room on the 24th floor with access to the executive lounge. I was really looking forward to it, as were my three colleagues from Mexico who were staying at the same hotel.

As it turns out, it was a bit disappointing. The first disappointment, as is usually the case, is the necessity to pay for an internet connection. This is one of the anomalies of staying at a four or five star hotel. It annoys me intensely. When I pay over $200 per night for a room, I would expect free internet. I can stay at the Hampton Inn or the Homewood Suites, both within the Hilton Group, and get free internet.

The other disappointment was the requirement to pay for drinks in the executive lounge during "Happy Hour." I stay at many hotels in the USA and internationally. This is the first time I have had to pay for drinks in the executive lounge during this evening time. In fact, at many hotels, basic alcoholic drinks are free any time the executive lounge is open.

Another strange aspect of the stay at this hotel was that on arrival in my room I found two bottles of water..... nice! The strange things was that they did not replace them on the next day. Odd!

Having said all this, the room itself was extremely comfortable. The desk, the sitting area, the bed and the flat screen TV were all great. I would have liked to see a DVD player in the room, though. The workout facility was fantastic, although I was far to busy to use it.

Would I stay there again? Not unless I had to. I would rather stay at the Homewood Suites for almost half the price and twice the stuff, including free breakfast, free dinner AND beer or wine.

Westin Nusa Dua

Hi all. The Westin Nusa Dua in Bali definitely deserves a Blog Post all of its own.

We visited this hotel to celebrate my mother's 80th birthday. We were welcomed to the hotel as if we were long lost family, even though we had never been there before. During check-in, we were handed a cool drink while the front desk manager came to welcome us. We were taken to our rooms which were clean, very comfortable and very well appointed.

We had a comfortable king size bed, a large flat screen TV with a DVD player. The room opened up to a porch facing onto the gardens, with the sea and beach about 30 meters (yards) to our left. There was a coffee plunger in the room with an electric kettle. Filter coffee and tea was provided, as were six bottles of water per day; quite sufficient.

The beach chairs were plentiful. There was shade from thatched beach "umbrellas" and from the trees. The sea was warm and flat.

The beach vendors were very friendly, as usual, but were well controlled, so that they did not become a nuisance.

Each morning of our one week stay, we would meet for breakfast. There were six of us. Breakfast was definitely one of our highlights. The food was fantastic! We had a choice of full Western breakfast including fruit, cereals, breads, eggs made to order, juices, coffee and teas and even espresso's and cappuccino. There was also Japanese and Chinese foods for breakfast. We would spend at least two hours eating, chatting and generally enjoying the pleasant open air restaurant, the food and the company. The breakfast staff could not have been more helpful, even giving us titbits of information about the resort, the local surroundings and Bali in general.

We ate dinner in the hotel's restaurant once. The food was tasty and plentiful, but we found it expensive compared to the local places in Nusa Dua, which were only a short ten minute walk.

We thoroughly enjoyed our vacation in Bali using the Westin Nusa Dua as our base. My mother has told me that if she returns to Bali, she will definitely stay there again.

Well done to all the staff and management at the Westin.

Thank you!!

Overnight Train from Kuala Lampur to Singapore

Last night our gracious hosts dropped us at KL Sentral to get the overnight train from Kuala Lumpur to Singapore. Before I detail the interesting experience, I need to tell you that we were not able to make reservations online. Although we could access the KTM (Keretapi Tranh Melayu) web site with schedules and descriptions of the various traveling options, they do not have online reservations. Our friends in KL told us that they had to wait at the train station for over an hour to make the reservations.

We opted for our own compartment with a small private bathroom. Because of this, we were given access to the first class lounge at KL Sentral before the train departed. The lounge was a no frills room with armchairs and some coffee. The good thing about the lounge was that it had internet access. When the train was in the station, about twenty minutes before departure time, we were told to go to the platform. The elevator from the lounge went directly to the train's platform.

Our "Premier Deluxe" compartment was in the very last carriage, but not too far to walk. It was interesting walking along the train seeing the various seating and sleeping options. There were basic seats, similar to airplane seating, there were sleepers with a flat bed curtained off individually, there were sleeper compartments with shared bathrooms and sleeper compartments with private bathrooms.

We found our compartment, made up with two bunk beds, one above the other. There is a very small desk and chair. With two suitcases, we had nowhere to stand. It was quite cramped. The bathroom was small and functional with a toilet, shower and small basin. The water in the faucet only came out in a trickle for some reason. The furnishing, carpet and paintwork were a bit worn and could certainly do with an upgrade.

As soon as the train pulled out of the station, we were given a basic hot meal in a plastic container of rice and some beef in a sauce. There was also a cold jello like dessert and a bottle of water each. We did not try this, as we had just come from an amazing meal with our new friends in KL at the Petroleum Club in the Petronas Towers. We were also given a really nice little kit with toothbrush, razor, ear buds, hand lotion and a shower cap.

The time by now was approaching midnight. We had been awake since very early that morning so we were extremely tired. We got into our bunk beds as soon as we could after the conductor had checked our tickets.

The train shook, rattled and swayed along the track at a good speed. I managed to get a few hours of sleep.

At about 06h45 we stopped at the Malaysian emigration and customs station. The officers boarded the train and efficiently did their duty. No problem.

Ten minutes later we stopped at the Singaporean immigration and customs centre. The process was efficient. We had to X-Ray our luggage.

The problem was that we then waited for at least 45 minutes before being allowed to re-board the train. We were due to arrive at 07h00, but it was already after 07h45!

We eventually arrived at the KTM station in Singapore just before 09h00, almost two hours late. We had a meeting at 09h30. Then we stood in a line waiting for a cab for another 40 minutes, so we arrived at our hotel at 10h00.

Would I recommend this to anyone else? Maybe if you are the adventurous type, or if you want to save money getting to Kuala Lumpur to Singapore overnight, saving the cost of a hotel room. For us it was just something we wanted to experience. I think I would much prefer doing the same journey on the Orient Express if the timing would work out. Alternatively, flying would be much more comfortable and more convenient.

Dinner at the Petroleum Club in Kuala Lumpur

Now here's an enjoyable and interesting experience.

Through a friendly business connection, we were invited to dinner with a new friend, his son and his son's girlfriend, at the Petroleum Club in Kuala Lumpur.

I called Colin on his cell phone. We had never met him before or even spoken to him. We immediately realized that he would be extremely hospitable and fun. He arranged to pick us up at our hotel. Colin arrived early. We were waiting in the lounge for him. We put our luggage in the back of his car as we would go directly to the train station after dinner to travel to Singapore. Colin has a driver who has been with the family for over thirty years; a very pleasant man.

The traffic was heavy, but we managed to get to the Petronas Towers in reasonable time. The Petronas Towers are currently the world's third tallest building after 101 in Taipei and the new building in Dubai. Colin kept up a constant commentary during the drive telling us about his family, his businesses and the city. It was most interesting.

As we alighted from the car, we were led into the lobby of the towers, Colin knew and greeted everybody. It was clear to us that he was very well liked by all. We took the elevator up to the 42nd floor of the towers, at the same level of the bridge made famous by the Sean Connery movie "Entrapment." Colin gave us a tour of the club. It was real old world charm with a Malaysian Chinese feeling. We could smell the delicious aroma's coming from the dining room where we would have dinner. The club has four restaurants. We met the general manager, who could not have been more friendly, like a member of the family. He even introduced us to his son. All the club staff members had worked at the club for a long time. They were all exceptionally helpful and gracious.

We sat in a lounge overlooking the city, having a drink while we discussed many diverse topics of mutual interest. Colin;s son, Barry and his girlfriend arrived to join us. We immediately got on well with them. One big happy family. It was clear that Barry and Colin had a strong bond and get on extremely well together. What I found interesting is that they have a very similar relationship that I had with my father, working closely together

After a lively discussion we went down to the buffet dining room for our feast/dinner. I decided to try all the Malaysian foods. I started with the salads. They were a bit spicy, but thoroughly enjoyable. I tried about six or seven different salads with various dressings. After the salads, I tried some meats, fish and vegetables. The freshly made roti was delicious with both vegetarian and fish stew options. The beef, venison and noodles were also delicious.

Now it was crunch time, I decided to try the durian. We had heard a lot about this famous, supposedly very tasty fruit with a nasty smell. It is banned from taxi cabs and hotel rooms. Once the smell gets into the car or room, it is almost impossible to get it out. The smell is pungent! The durian at the club was made with coconut milk and brown sugar in a soup. It was still possible to smell the durian, but less than normal. It was actually pretty tasty.

After trying a host of Malaysian desserts it was time to leave. What an enjoyable evening with our new friends in Kuala Lumpur. Hopefully we can reciprocate soon is Texas.

Singapore via Tokyo

Well, here we go again. We are flying to Singapore via Tokyo.

I need to discuss the difference between Continental and United airlines. We reserved our seats on Continental getting a very reasonable rate in economy. The flight we reserved is from Intercontinental in Houston to Singapore. We have to change planes in Tokyo. It turns out that the second leg from Tokyo to Singapore is actually on a United plane.

We went onto the Continental web site to select our seats. On the first leg on Continental from Houston to Tokyo, we were able to get decent seats, and we requested a miles upgrade to Business Class. We were immediately wait-listed.

When trying to get seats on the second flight from Tokyo to Singapore, we found that the system would not accept both our seat requests. We could see the empty seats, but sometimes we could select one seat and other times the system would delete our selections.

I called Continental OnePass center, but they told me that as it is a United flight I would have to call United. I did so, but the agent told me that there was nothing he could do. We would have to wait until we got to the airport, even though it was at least a week before our flight!! So much for seamless alliances between the two airlines.

Two days ago we received a very pleasant e-mail from Continental, telling us that our upgrade had come through on the Houston to Tokyo flight.... oh joy of joys!

On checking in online last night, we confirmed the business seats, easily selecting two excellent seats next to each other with aisle access on either side. Fun!

At the same time, I noticed that United had given us seats, however they were 18 rows apart and were both cramped seats, one in the middle of five seats! Not pleasant.

After dropping our bags at the Continental counter this morning, in an efficient easy manner, and going through security we went to the Continental Presidents Club, always a haven of peace.

We mentioned our United seating disappointment to the lady in the club. She was FANTASTIC!! She went to a lot of time and trouble to rearrange our seats on the United flight to a bulkhead aisle and adjacent seat.

It is interesting how she could do it, but the United representative could not do the same thing a week ago. Well done Continental.

So now we can look forward to a pleasant series of flights to Singapore.

More to follow shortly......

Alaska Cruise Video

The Video of our Alaska cruise on Celebrity Millennium through the inside passage is now available on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KES7L5ST8VY
Enjoy!

Alaska Cruisetour

You can view the YouTube video of our Alaska Cruisetour with Celebrity Cruise Lines at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uk5JuafD9eI

Enjoy!
Paul

Denver

A Great weekend in Denver.

I came to Denver after spending the week working in Pittsburgh at a security convention. Ingrid was already in Denver with Lara Daniel.

On Saturday we went to the Gay Pride Parade in downtown Denver. It was fun and crazy. There was lot's of music, food, fun booths and an enormous number of really strane people wandering around. After enjoying the sights and sounds, we went to the sixteenth street mall, where we had an enjoyable lunch at the Rock Bottom Brewery. I enjoyed their beer of the day.

On the way home we stopped at the store to get food for dinner. We made a barbecue of steak and chicken. I enjoy eating at home.

Sunday morning we cycled along the scenic route, through the green belt, to the Stapleton Park. There was a farmer's market taking place. We "surveyed" all the wares before finding a shady spot under a tree, where we could enjoy our breakfast. We tried two types of breakfast tacos and some pancakes. Yum! We also got some organic coffee, tea and berry smoothies. It was most pleasant.

After cycling home, we went to Home Depot, where we bought all the required timber and accessories to start to build a headboard for the master bedroom. We almost finished the frame, before Daniel and I went to Colorado National Golf Course. We managed to get in about 12 holes before it became to dark. There were too many players on the course. It was VERY slow. The course was good, though.

We came home for a light meal and then had an early night after a busy day.

It's really enjoyable spending time with Lara & Daniel in Denver during the pleasant summer months. Stapleton is an amazing place; very Stepford-like.

Pittsburgh 2

We spent a really enjoyable evening in Pittsburgh after the ESX exhibition had closed.

We drove to the Station at the bottom of Mount Washington. After parking, we walked over to the Incline Station where we caught the funicular up the mountain. It runs on rails at an incline of 53 degrees. It cost $2.75 for the return trip. At the top of the mountain after a six minute ride, we enjoyed the spectacular view of downtown Pittsburgh and the river. (See photo).

The village at the top of Mt Washington is quaint. We stopped at a tattoo parlor for advice on where to eat. Their advice referred us to the Redbeard Pub. We sat outdoors and had a delicious meal. Good advice!

After dinner, we went into downtown where we had a drink in the Sharp Edge bar. They put the Lakers/Celtics game on the TV, but with no sound and not HD. I left to watch the game in my hotel room.

I was staying at the Westin attached to the convention center. I found the hotel to be excellent. The room was very comfortable with comfortable beds. The shower had dual adjustable shower heads. There was a coffee maker with Starbucks coffee. The internet was free!

The fitness center in the hotel was unusual for a hotel. It was well equipped with all the machines and free weights. It has an aerobics floor with mats. There were at least five elliptical trainers and even more treadmills. The center even has an indoor Olympic size swimming pool.

I will be pleased to return to Pittsburgh soon to continue the work we started this week.

Pittsburgh

I am in Pittsburgh, attending a security convention.

This is a really nice city. We have spent two evenings walking around the downtown part of the city. There seems to be a fun vibe here. The streets are very clean. Some of the building architecture is amazing with the very old and the very modern side-by-side.

Alaska Tour V

So... let me tell you about the people on our Celebrity Cruisetour through the Alaskan interior.

I have already told you about the small group of eight with whom we tried to coordinate most activities. There were quite a few other people on the cruisetour with whom we got along famously.

The first couple we met were Brad and Janet. When we heard their names we thought... aha, the Rocky Horror Picture Show! We went to chat to them on our boat ride on the fjords from Seward. Nice people from Georgia. Janet wanted a picture of puffins in the wild. Happy to oblige. They were traveling with their friends David and Malissa from Boca Raton. We got on with the two of them very well. Right now we are sitting with Dave and Melissa in the Alaskan airlines lounge before flying on to Houston.

There were eight ladies traveling together; Maria, Grace, Hazel and Linda. Although we did not go anywhere with them, other than organized activities, when we chatted to them, we found them all to be very friendly and fun to be with.

Enid and Jesus from Puerto Rico were a nice quiet couple. They tended to stay quietly by themselves. Ingrid chatted to them and found them to be most pleasant.

Mark and Christine from Nova Scotia also tended to stay by themselves. We invited them to join us for dinner in Denali at the Salmon Bake. They spent most of the evening having a good conversation with Betty and Bob, who enjoyed the chat over dinner.

There was a four person family group from Fort Worth and Richmond Virginia. John and June, Sam and Suzie were a fun group, always with a smile and a "hello." It was nice having them with us. Sam and Suzie used to live in Houston, so we had something in common with them.

We had an older group with us from Missouri. The four of them, Barbara and Jack, Joyce and Bob were like having friendly grandparents with us on the tour. They made up an integral part of the tour.

So as you can read, we had a really nice group on our bus. It made for a fantastic tour. It was really sad to see our bus "family" go in their different directions.

Alaska Tour IV

Today was our last FULL day in Alaska.

We started from our hotel in Talkeetna. We took the shuttle from the Talkeetna Alaska Lodge down to the town. It was our intention to have breakfast at the famous Roadhouse, but the line was much to long. We walked across the road to the Dinali Brewing Company's Twister Creek Restaurant. The food was plentiful and very tasty. Mike, our Tour Director joined us. It was a pleasure having him along.

After breakfast we sauntered through the town until we reached the shuttle, which we rode back to the hotel.

We went on a hike along the hotel's nature trail. It was like walking in a wild garden. The flora was beautiful.

After our walk, we sat in front of the hotel's large fireplace relaxing.

AT the designated time, we took our tour bus down to the train depot where we boarded the Celebrity train car for a train ride to Anchorage. This was the most amazing train. We sat on the upper level which had large windows. We could clearly see the passing landscape. The lower deck was a fine dining restaurant. After a while, we went down for dinner which was a revelation. Who would expect quality meals on a train?

The train ride into Anchorage took four hours. We all enjoyed the ride, the view, the dinner and the camaraderie.

We eventually reached Anchorage. Our superb bus driver, Jeff, Met us at the train to take us to our hotel, the Marriott. It was pleasantly surprising that he had already taken our bags to the hotel.

It was ad to say good bye to our driver Jeff and our Tour Director, Mike. They both did a fantastic job and had become part of the "family" in only six days. Oh well......

A group of us met downstairs in the hotel bar for a farewell drink, although some of us will still see each other in Anchorage tomorrow.

Another good day, thanks to Celebrity Cruise Tours!

Alaska Tour III

A transition day from Magnificent Dinali National Park to the quaint and quirky Talkeetna.

We went into the "Glitter Gulch" at Dinali for breakfast at the Black Bear Restaurant. It was excellent. The place was very small and rustic. The food was enjoyable and very tasty. The tea and coffee cups were enormous. I had a Chai tea which was delicious. It was also very affordable.

We caught the shuttle back to the hotel where we boarded the bus for the three hour drive to Talkeetna. We stopped at the same view point from where we had excellent views of Mt Mckinley/Dinali two days preciously. This time the mountains were completely covered in clouds. It turns out that only 30% of the people who visit the Dinali National Park get to see the mountain. This is how lucky we were when we had such good views.

After reaching the Talkeetna Alaskan Lodge, we checked in. Our room was very nice, but was on the ground floor giving us a view of the trees. We asked to change rooms, but were told after a run-around that there were no rooms available on higher floors. After some investigation, it turned out that thee actually were rooms available. Up stepped our tour director, Mike, who got us put in a third floor room. Well done Mike!!

We went into the four block Talkeetna. It is very quaint. We walked through the town to the river where tow other rivers meet up. It was very pretty. We spent some time walking and skipping stones on the water.

Then we walked the short distance back to town where we had dinner with two other couples at the Wildflower Cafe. It was a terrific meal; by fat the best since we have been touring Alaska by land. We would strongly recommend this restaurant.

So... back to the lodge where we sta on the deck overlooking the mountains. When it got chilly, we moved into the lodge foyer and sat by the fireplace. We have met a few copules on the tour with whom we have become friendly. The eight of us "hunt in a pack" dining together and trying to coordinate activities.

Bob and Kem are from Florida. They are fun loving and very good company. Kem is in charge of researching dining venues. She did a great job tonight!

Bill and Cathy are from Rhode Island. They are down to earth and enjoy everything going. It is a true pleasure to be with them.

The third couple, Bob and Beth get on with the rest of us very well. We enjoy good conversations with them. They have a good sense of humor; they need this to stay with the rest of us.

The rest of our group is very nice. We enjoy chatting to and relating to them on many levels.

This is an advantage of this kind of travel. We met great people a

Alaska Tour III

Denali Park was much more than expected.

We left the hotel at 7 a.m. on the Tundra Wilderness Tour. The bus, driven by a naturalist took us straight into the park. For the first 12 miles we saw very little, just a moose which was too far to see properly.

Then we started to see all of the big furry four. We saw moose, caribou and dall's sheep. All of a sudden we came across two bears together on a river bank. Apparently this is a very unusual event. We had a clear view of the bears.

Then we also saw a fox running along the road in front of us. Amazing!

We also saw many different birds and smaller mammals. The naturalist was extremely knowledgeable. He answered all questions with a smile. We were in the park for eight hours. Thoroughly enjoyable.


Instead of going back to our hotel, we were dropped at the Dinali Visitor center. From there we attended the free demonstration and talk on dog sledding. The dogs were a delight. It was also very interesting.

We returned to the hotel, where we met up with some cruise buddies. Eight of us went to the Perch Restaurant for dinner. What a disaster! Four of the items on the menu were not available. It's a pretty short menu. They totally forgot two of the entrees. The beer was bad and some of the food was cold.

We returned to the hotel where we sat in the lounge outside our rooms. We looked at today's photos and had a Baileys on ice as a nightcap.

A good day was had by all!

Alaska Tour II

From Alyeska to Denali; a busy day.

We started early this morning by taking the Hotel Alyeska shuttle to the Bake Shop down the road. This was a big surprise. The Bake Shop was hidden below a few apartments off the main road. The decor was simple. There were a number of paintings on the wall for sale. The stained glass art hanging against the windows were very pretty. The food was delicious!! A most enjoyable breakfast.

On returning to the hotel, we boarded the bus for the beautiful hour long drive to Anchorage. we drove along the coast.

After a short bus ride through downtown Anchorage, we were dropped off at the Farmer's Market to wander around. We enjoyed looking at all the local artifacts, jewelry and food.

We got back onto the bus to start our five hour drive to the Mount Mckinley Denali national park. We stopped at the Miller Cafe for ice cream. This place is famous. We had to stand in line for half an hour, but it was worth it!

Our next stop was when we could view the 20,000 foot Mount Mckinley. The view was fantastic!

We arrived at the Mckinley Village hotel at about 5 p.m. We found our rooms. This was the second surprise of the day. We were expecting to rough it, but this hotel is just great!

We met bellow our room adjacent to a river, where we had a beer and walked a short distance to a small beach. The weather is wonderful, around 65 degrees with white clouds partly covering the sky.

We went into town to the Salmon Bake for a fun dinner. There were ten of us. The food was ok.

Now we're back at the hotel. Free internet, coffee maker in the room, free laundry!

Cruise Tour II

Today was a wildlife, hiking, eating day.

We started off by taking the Windsong Lodge shuttle to Seward to have breakfast in the Harbor Cafe. It was fun.

We returned to the Windsong Lodge where we boarded the Celebrity bus. We drove to the Alaskan Wildlife Centre. Although it was raining, we thoroughly enjoyed seeing the bears, the caribou, the muskox, the eagle, the moose and the other animals. It was very exciting. We couldn't wait to jump off the bus to see each animal. The mud and rain were not a deterrent at all.

We stopped at the concession for a short break. I had a reindeer hotdog! It was good.

We then drove a short way to the Alyeska Hotel. It is terrific. We took the cable car up the 2,300 feet to the top of the mountain. The views from the top were incredible. There were people snowboarding.

We came down the cable car, but persuaded the operator to allow us a second up and down ride. Fun!

When we got to the bottom, we went on an hour hike through the forest. We hiked the Winner Creek trail. We did not make it to the end because we were meeting people for dinner.

We took the hotel shuttle to downtown Girdwood. We ate e delicious dinner at Maxines Bistro. The band arrived as we were leaving. Go figger!

All-in-all a wonderful day!

Alaska Tour I

Today was the first day of the land portion of our cruise-tour.

We got off the ship in Seward, Alaska just after 9 a.m. We met our tour manager, Mike at the end of the gangway. He seems a very friendly guy. We drove for only a few minutes to the Sea life Centre where we spent two hours marveling at the exhibits. They had many live sea mammals, fishes and birds. We saw a huge entertaining 2,000 lb sea lion.

After the Sea Life Center, we drove for a few minutes t the small craft harbor where we boarded a boat to explore the Kenai Fjords. This was most enjoyable. About fifteen minutes from the harbor, we came across our first live sea otter, lying peacefully on his back. Se photo.

We sailed for a while looking at the birds until we arrived at Fox Island. They served us a salmon bake lunch while a game ranger gave us a talk about the area and some of the folklore.

After lunch, we spent a few wonderful hours exploring the fjords. We saw sea lions, porpoises, eagles, puffins, coastal mountain goats and other wildlife.

After eventually returning to the Seward harbor, we drove to our hotel, the Windsong Lodge. It is comfortable yet rustic.

We walked down the road to a local restaurant advertising lousy food and cheap beer. In reality, the beer was average and the food was good.

We walked back along the stream, even finding time to skip some flat rocks on the water.

Now it's time to relax.

Alaska Cruise VI

The Hubbard Glacier. Wow! Wow! Wow!

We got up at 6.15 a.m. so that we could get onto the ships helipad when it opened at 7 a.m. After coffee and something to eat, we dressed up with full arctic clothing. Good idea. When the door to the helipad opened we got prime position at the very bow of the ship, BUT the ship was still traveling at over 15 knots into the bay. It was freezing!! We braved the weather.

As the ship entered the bay we could see small pieces of ice floating in the sea. As we progresses and started to slow down we could see the massive wall of the Hubbard Glacier. The pieces of ice started to get bigger and more frequent. The glacier is enormous. It is six miles wide and three hundred feet high. When we started to reach the more dense ice, we saw seals and birds on the larger pieces. The colors were amazing. The various blue colored ice growlers and icebergs were amazing. We saw tiger ice with white and dark stripes. We saw different shapes and sizes.

As we got closer to the glacier we could hear the growling and thundering of the glacier as it calved huge pieces of ice walls into the sea. The ice around is crackled and popped as if we were sailing in a bowl of Rice Crispies.

The weather turned out to be fantastic. The sky cleared up and the glacier glowed all colors of blue and white. We spent over an hour within a mile of the glacier face. It was absolutely wonderful. Each cruise has its special day or event. This was it!

When the ship started to slowly turn away from the glacier, it actually positioned our balcony cabin in perfect position to watch the ice wall. We spent another fifteen or twenty minutes enjoying this magnificent sight.

And then, as the ship sailed away, we sat on the outside stern area enjoying a nice cup of tea with some cruise buddies. The sun was now shining, keeping us warm, while the glacier disappeared in the distance.

After a short while we did some packing, as this is our last cruise day. We then went up to the top deck for a Celebrity Captain's Club (Frequent Cruiser) party. We met the Captain and some of the senior ship's officers and personnel. It was pleasant, as usual.

After the function we met some other frequent cruisers for a tour of te ship's bridge. It was extremely interesting. The ship's officers on the bridge were very forthcoming wit information and answers to our questions. It was most enjoyable.

Not long after the bridge tour, we met a small group of Elite Celebrity Captain's Club members in the Michael's Club for a drink and a few light snacks. The conversation was very interesting and pleasant.

At dinner we were seated at a new table facing the stern glass wall of the Celebrity Millennium. We had an excellent view of the sea. Nice. The show was fun and now we are getting packed, ready to depart tomorrow when we start the land portion of our trip.

Alaska Cruise V

Skagway is a very quaint interesting town.

Our ship, the Celebrity Millennium docked with ten minutes walk from the center of the town. We walked there. The weather was cool, but not cold. The sky was clear, although the clouds came over in the afternoon.

The first thing we did was stop at the National Historic Visitor Center adjacent to the White Pass Railroad offices. We looked around the Klondike Gold Rush museum for a while before attending a talk on the gold rush given by one of the game rangers. The one hour talk was extremely interesting, describing in amazing detail the experiences of one of the men who tragically decided to join the gold rush in 1898. The reason there was so much information is that this poor man had written detailed letters to the wife of his friend in Detroit, effectively acting as a diary.

After the talk, we were given a forty minute walking tour of historic Skagway with an emphasis on how people had been deceived in the gold rush days. Both these talks were free!

We then boarded the White Pass Railroad for a three hour ride up to the coastal mountain summit on the border with Canada. It was a relaxing yet spectacular train ride. We saw what in 1901 was the world's highest cantilever bridge, which is a national monument. I think the price of $115 was expensive, but we still enjoyed it immensely.

The train dropped us right in front of our ship, where we had missed the "Elegant Tea" for Elite Captain's Club members, but we still managed to get a cocktail in the "secret room."

After a short rest and wash, we dressed up in our formal gear to gave dinner at the captain's table. The evening was hosted by both the hotel director and the HR director. It was a fun evening where we ate and drank too much.

We made it to the singing and dancing show which featured Broadway shows. It was excellent; by far the best we've ever seen on a cruise ship.

So now it's early to bed, as we have to get up very early to view the Hubbard Glacier.

Alaska Cruise IV

Another incredible day in Alaska.

We were woken by our butler bringing coffee to our stateroom, the first time we had slept late. Luckily for us. We noticed a message on our phone from the night before telling us that our tour had been rescheduled from 10.45 a.m. to 8.45 a.m. We quickly had some coffee and fruit and rushed off the ship to the pier, where we met the small shuttle to the airport. We had arranged a helicopter flight to the Mendenhall Glacier with a two hour glacier trek (walk).

At the premises of the company, Northstar Trekking, we were given a safety talk and then we were given a complete set of equipment for our glacier trek. Fist we put on some waterproof pants, over what we were wearing. Then we removed our shoes and put on their waterproof boots. Over the boots and the pants, we put some covering. I can't remember what it was called. Then we put on a waterproof jacket.

We walked out to the helicopter. There were three passengers and we were also accompanied by two of our glacier guides. The helicopter took us for a thirty minute ride over the glacier, into the adjacent valleys and over the ice fields. This part of the tour was fascintaing. See the glacier from the air was spectacular. This huge river of ice was a sight to see.

We landed on the glacier with a second helicopter. In all, we were about nine tourists with three guides. The ice was very slippery. We were given crampons, a set of large spikes attached to the bottom of our boots. We were also given helmets and ice axes. The guides then taught us the techniques of walking on the ice, climbing hills and descending slopes.

The two hour exploration of the glacier was absolutely fantastic. The glacier appeared to glow from within, a bright blue color. We saw rivers of bright blue clear water flowing through the glacier. We saw beautiful waterfalls. When the sun came out the entire glacier changed to a sparkling field of bright ice.

The guides were extremely knowledgeable. They were happy to answer all our questions. The time finished much too quickly. We could have stayed on the glacier for a few more hours. The helicopter ride back to the airport was short but pretty, giving us a good view of Juneau and its surrounding area. We would strongly recommend that anyone going to Juneau uses Northstar Trekking for this incredible tour. Its well worthwhile.

After returning all our equipment at the company's premises, we were driven back to the ship. The driver offered lots of information about Juneau.

After a light salad for lunch, we decided to walk around Juneau, which is the capitol of Alaska. We wandered along the main streets and walked up the hill to the State Capitol building. We were given a tour of the building lasting around 45 minutes. It was very interesting.

We did a little shopping on the way back to the ship. Juneau is a bustling town with a fun vibe.

It is now 11.40 pm. It is not dark outside, more like a blue dusk. There is snow on the mountain peaks. We are sailing along a very smooth passage. It is like a chocolate box covering.

Oh well. we gotta go to sleep sometime!

Alaska Cruise III

Icy Straight Point, supposedly the best whale watching area in this part of Alaska.

Although we woke up very early, we did not leave the ship until 10 a.m. No rush here, not really much to do other than a 1,300 meter zip line.

We walked the 1.5 miles to the town of Hoonah, which turned out to be extremely pleasant. The weather was good. The sky was blue with some cloud cover, there was a slight breeze and the temperature was around 61 degrees Fahrenheit. We saw some bald eagles on the trees above us and flying around. The scenery of the straits with the partially snow covered mountains in the background was spectacular. The town itself was cute, just what we would have expected from a small Alaskan town.

We also did the short nature train through a magnificent forest and then along the beach back to the dock. We saw a humpback whale in the distance.

We returned to the ship for a light lunch and a rest before our late afternoon Whale and Wine excursion.

At 5 p.m. we returned to the dock via the ship's tender. We boarded the large motorized whale watching catamaran American Eagle. We traveled for around 30 minutes before we started to see whales. At fist they were in the distance. We could see them clearly. They were swimming through the surf. We could see their huge humps, while they blew water in the air. There were also sea lions swimming with and around the whales. There were eafles and other birds in the skies above us.

Then we saw one particular whale performing aggressively in the surf. We got very close to him and watched for over 30 minutes while he breached, flapped his tail and his flippers. It was an incredible sight. Wow! Wow! Wow!

On the way back to the dock, we saw a large bear foraging for food on the beach. What a great excursion!

Alaska Cruise II

Today was our first sea day. No rush. Breakfast in the "secret room"; a small lounge reserved for Celebrity Elite members. It was peaceful and quiet.

After breakfast we stayed for the Cruise Critic meet and greet function. We met some very nice people from near Sacramento in California.

We attended a fascinating talk by the ship's naturalist, Milos. He discussed Alaska's widlife with pictures. He also discussed how the world had formed since the dinosaurs had roamed the plains.

I managed to get my time in the gym before our butler brought us tea and canapes to the stateroom. It is always interesting to explain to him what we need and our likes and dislikes. It will be interesting to see if he gets it right the second time.

While we were relaxing in the afternoon, we passed very close to the shore along Alaska's Inside Passage. We saw two Killer Whales, the largest members of the dolphin family. We also saw a bald eagle in flight. It was a beautiful part of the cruise.

After dressing for formal evening, we returned to Michael's Club, the "secret room" for a drink before dinner. Ingrid had a Michaelangelo, a cocktail with champagne, mango and other drinks, while I had a diet Cuba Libre, rum and coke.

Dinner was delicious, as it always seems to be on Celebrity. The Sea Bass was prepared properly. I also had Chateaubriand.

After dinner, we went to the show, which was a dancing and singing production. This one was not our scene, although I am sure the other guests enjoyed it. An early night before Ketchikan tomorrow.

Alaska Cruise I

Today's the day we boarded our cruise ship to Alaska.

We had a relaxing early morning in the hotel. Once again, we made ourselves a cup of Starbucks coffee using the sachets provided by the Westin Bayshore in Vancouver. Our view of the marina, the bay and the mountains made for a pleasant morning. After catching up on all the necessary e-mails, we wandered over to the White Spot restaurant in downtown Vancouver for breakfast. It was only two blocks from the hotel.

We were given coupons for the White Spot on our Vancouver Trolley yesteday. This gave us 50% off one of our entree's. The ambiance and the food were good.

After breakfast we returned to our hotel, where we checked out and caught a cab to Canada Place where our ship, the Celebrity Millennium was berthed. We would normally have walked, but because a section of the promenade was under construction, we would have had to carry our cases up two large flights of stairs.

We arrived at Canada Place at noon, perfect timing. We put our cases directly onto the moving belt to load them onto the ship. We did not need a porter to assist. Getting through American immigration was a breeze. The agent was very friendly.

After a few minutes wait we checked into the ship. The lady checking us in, a native of Vancouver was extremely friendly and helpful. We even spent a few minutes discussing some aspects of the city. She confirmed our upgrade to a suite. Thanks to Andrea at Frosch Travel in Houston. Well done!!

As we were about to leave the ships check-in, a crew lady approached us with our room keys and told us that she would like to offer us complimentary dining this evening at the ship's fine dining restaurant, the Olympic. What a pleasure. It is definitely a major benefit to stick with one cruise line or group in order to achieve Elite status.

We boarded the ship with no wait at all. The staterooms were not ready, so we went to the Waterfall Restaurant, where we were able to sit outdoors, enjoy the weather, the sights and have a light lunch salad.

The afternoon was spent exploring the ship. Our Sky Suite is, for us, the perfect stateroom; not cramped, but not too big either. We met our room steward and our butler, both of whom are very hospitable. We sailed out of Vancouver an hour late because the ship took longer to refuel than anticipated. We sailed past Stanley Park under the huge Lions Bridge on our way to the inside passage to Alaska. Exciting!

We went to the Olympic restaurant for a delicious meal. Yummmm! We both had rack of lamb, done to perfection. The service was amazing.

The "Welcome Aboard" show was the usual mix of talk and entertainment. The one aspect that we found particularly appealing was the teaser for the production show tomorrow. The singers and dancers were very good.

We eventually only got to bed after midnight, tired but looking forward to a fun, entertaining and educational cruise.

Vancouver II

A fun day in Vancouver.

We decided to take the Hop-on, Hop-off trolley around Vancouver this morning. The purpose was to see as much as possible in one day. The cost of $36 ($38 less hotel $2 coupon) per person was a bit steep, but allowed us to achieve our aim. The drivers were interesting, offering titbits of information all the time.

Before we left, we made ourselves some delicious Starbucks coffee from the sachets placed in our hotel room for use with the in-room coffee maker. We like the Westin Bayshore and would recommend it. We did however, get our rooms through Priceline, getting a good deal. Vancouver hotels can be very expensive.

We were picked up by the Vancouver Trolley Company outside our hotel. The red route trolley started by touring through Stanley Park. We decided to come back to the park in the afternoon for some exploring. We got off the bus at the False Creek Ferries, where we travelled across the bay to Granville Island by ferry. The trolley ticket included a free ferry ticket. Neat!

We went directly to the Blue Parrot, a small coffee shop in the Public Market on Granville Island. We ordered coffee and an avocado sandwich to share. The coffee was STRONG and the sandwich was big enough for the two of us to have a good meal. We sat by the window, watching the passing parade of people and boats. The weather was gorgeous.

After breakfast, we wandered through the market. The variety of food on sale was fascinating. There was a fun atmosphere with many buskers inside and outside the market. We walked to the opposite end of the island where we found the blue route trolley to continue our journey.

We got off again in Chinatown, the second biggest in North America after San Francisco. We walked around and even managed to buy some stuff. We even found delicious lychees for a snack in our hotel.

Boarding the blue route trolley again at the other end of Chinatown, we traveled through downtown to Canada Place, the cruise terminal. We changed trolleys, back to the red route to go back to our hotel to drop off our purchases and to have a short rest.

Time for more touring. We boarded the red route trolley again to return to Stanley Park as planned. We got off at the Totem Poles. Very interesting. We walked down to the bay and walked around the tip of Stanley Park, enjoying the varied views. We returned to the Totem Poles where we again got onto a red route trolley. After a short ride, we got off at English Bay, where we ate a tasty early dinner at the Boathouse. We sat on the upper outside deck, which was heated. The food and ambiance were good.

We managed to get the last trolley for a ride back through downtown back to Canada Place. We could have got a ride with the trolley back to our hotel, but decided instead to walk along the promenade. We found a series of many plaques highlighting true interesting stories about Vancouver's fascinating history. We watched the sea planes take off and land from one of North America's busiest seaplane ports.

So.. a really enjoyable, busy day. It worked out that we toured the city for over nine hours!

Vancouver I

Hi All
Today we flew into Vancouver on our way to board our Alaskan cruise ship on Friday. We had heard that Vancouver is a really terrific city, so we arrived two days early to verify this idea.

Continental Airlines was kind enough to upgrade both of us to business class for our four hour flight from Houston. We were served a delicious brunch of vegetable soup and a chicken wrap. We watched the movie "Leap Year" which was good light entertainment. We used our Sony noise canceling headphones instead of the earbud headphones given to us. The quality makes quite a difference. A second movie was screened, but I used the time to write some work e-mails.

We met up at the airport with a cruise buddy from our January Panama Canal cruise. He was with his new bride. We caught a cab together to the hotel.

The hotel, the Westin Bayshore is very clean and comfortable. The receptionist was friendly and efficient.

After putting our luggage into the room, I needed to spend about ninety minutes working on some specification sheets for an upcoming convention in Pittsburgh. Having got that out of the way, we were free to spend the afternoon exploring our district of Vancouver. It was raining softly but steadily, but we had brought umbrellas and rain jackets, so we were not deterred in any way. The temperature was comfortable in the mid teens centigrade.

We walked along the Seawall up to Canada Place, where the cruise ships dock. It was not very far. I was amazed to see a seaplane port in action.

We walked through the quaint touristy Gaslamp district, where we saw the world's first steam powered clock. We waited for it to "chime" the quarter hour using steam whistles. Fun!

We walked up to the Chinatown, after which we went to the Steamworks micro-brewery for a delicious lunch of beer battered fish 'n chips, a salad and some of the locally brewed dark beer. It hit the spot!

After our late lunch we strolled back to hotel, enjoying the local sight and sounds.

We planned tomorrow's full day of touring Vancouver's attractions.

Watch this space.....